Del's Restaurant — Restaurant in Four Corners States

horrible, dirty, rude unprofessional staff and manager *

Please read before you go and waste your hard earned money!

We have loved stopping at del’s over the years on our way to Albuquerque but today was the last chance and done!

Last time was bad enough that we told ourselves that this was their last chance and they blew it in multiple ways in what I will forever refer to as Del’s fashion.

Food: it used to be a favorite spot for our first New Mexican food coming from Oklahoma but last time our food was sub par and this time it was even worse. The chile both red and green were practically flavorless and seemed like mostly water and corn starch. We could have possibly chalked it up to just an off day but…

THE FLIES! The flies began their assault as soon as our food arrived, first one, then two, then…. Not even a quarter way into our meal we were attempting to keep five flies off of our faces, arms, and especially our food! They were crawling all over our chips, sharing our enchiladas. We could get no relief. It was the worst I have ever seen flies in a food service establishment. Which leads us to…

The staff. When we walked in the very unfriendly unprofessional and actually just rude “hostess” reluctantly took us to a table. Fine I could get over that. Our waitress was actually very nice and efficient so I feel sorry that she has to work there with that management and ownership after what happened next. I ask the devoid of any personality hostess if they have a fly swatter or something because at this point we aren’t even able to pick up a fork to eat our food because of fly shooing and she just said HUH? and walks off not to be seen again. I finally walk to the cashier and ask to see a manager and end up having to explain the situation to three other waitresses before a truly hateful woman finally makes her way out of the kitchen so I explain again! This is the WORST experience ever with management in any establishment restaurant or not. Hateful,rude,unprofessional, and condescending she offered to box up our food so we can take it with us after the flies had their way with it for at least another ten minutes! I told her that we couldn’t eat the food because it was contaminated and she so casually informed me that flies are a part of nature like she was educating me! She finally offered to take 10% off of our uneaten and now cold and fully contaminated with who knows what food. I told her that I would agree to pay 50% and just leave. She had to go ask the owner….another long wait and the owner was offering 50% off of only one entree out of two and a kids meal, a whole $8. So….

We paid $47 dollars to not eat and have to fight a flock of ninja flies and deal with rude, hateful, uncaring, ignorant, and money grubbing staff, manager, and owner. I will forever remember this horrific experience as one for the record books of worst restaurant experiences ever!

Read others’ bad reviews and judge for yourself if you are willing to throw away nearly $50 for absolutely nothing! And if there are so many flies on the food and faces of customers who knows how bad it is in the...

Well order chicken fried steak. Good sized steak. Did not like the server telling us what our order was out loud. Was decent food but they charge as if you was in a 3 or 4 star restaurant. Table next to us order a 6oz steak for over 20 dollars. A gentle man wanted a salad but didn't get 1 because what they wanted to add to his bill for a 1 time trip to salad bar. Just for unlimited salad was expensive when you can go to another restaurant an pay 1/2 of what you pay there. It's not about service or even there food. It's about the owner getting rich. husband was a chef in Seattle an in a 5 star restaurant, it was cheaper to eat there than in Del's. Chicken fried steak was a BIG one, green beans no flavor, mashed potatoes was good. Gravy tasted like milk, not a bad thing but you have to add seasoning to it. Add a little salt an pepper. Not a bad place just VERY BAD and EXPENSIVE for just ok food. When eat at a restaurant with there reputation I want my check brought to me NOT announced to everyone, that is RUDE an disrespectful. An the price is way to expensive. Cost about 8 dollars for our meal they charged almost 50.00 for 2 meals that cost about 16.00 to make. They owner is getting 🤑. Route 66 is historic and understand the price but OVERCHARGING is just deception. Will admit food is good, price is wrong. Go to Dodge City Kansas an get a 12 oz steak for 25 or 30 bucks not a 6 oz for 25 give or take. Will go back maybe, Tucumcari is a small town prices like that you find in a bigger city. If you want great food an pay those prices, then go to a 5 star restaurant an get what you pay for flavor. Not being disrespectful being honest. They food is ok an the servers was ok, but they are like vultures when it comes to money. I would go back even with the prices being outrageous, IF I sat down ordered an the server DIDN'T come to my table and announce my bill to the whole restaurant. If restaurant had reasonable prices and had waitresses not vultures working for them would be better. They 2 younger girls busting the table next to us was very respectful an very thorough an acted like the careful about the over all appearance of the restaurant, they should have gotten the tip instead of...

This place is great! The huge steer above the sign outside tells you everything you need to know. I had the ribeye, it was excellent for the price! Expertly cooked, with an old school parsley butter presentation, it’s worth it if you like steak.

The New Mexican dishes were also great! I got a side of chile rellenos, Christmas style & ate them later; it was the best decision of the meal. The salsa was also perfect & my partner got the enchiladas, the chiles in both were exactly what I was looking for in terms of heat & flavor. I was stuffed, but I wish I’d taken the sopapilla to go for breakfast, as my better half did.

The staff were all adorable! Pretty sure it was the first day of school & the younger folks were excitedly talking about who was in whose class. Everyone was wearing Rattlers shirts. It was all very wholesome. Our waitress was great, she was attentive & extremely nice.

A few minor issues, parking was a nightmare. It seemed like there were more cars than people in the restaurant, which was weird. It was also really warm inside. I get it, NM in summer, but it was slightly uncomfortable. I think the heat also took its toll on the salad bar, it looked a little worse for wear. I love a good buffet/salad bar, but it was the end of the night & the contents of the hotel pans were pretty beat up. Also, there were a few flies in the dining area. Not the end of the world, but it was noticeable. Lastly, the physical menus could probably use an update. They were confusing & the layout made it hard to find things.

None of that matters though, what does is this place is a gem & you should...